MORELLADON

Morelladon was always going to struggle to capture the public's imagination, simply because it belongs to a family of non-ferocious, plant-eating dinosaurs known as styracosternan iguanodonts. And it was just the wrong side of average, in terms of length, height and mass, to make a splash with its size. A better name might have helped its cause, perhaps based on its most snazzy feature, which, while not unique in the Dinosauria, was hitherto unseen in the European branch of Iguanodontia. But as it is, the coining authors chose a name based on its discovery at Morella and a Greek word (odon) which refers to the only tooth from a bunch of fourteen that didn't look like it was knocked out with a hammer in instalments.

Like Egypt's Spinosaurus, Niger's Ouranosaurus, Mongolia's Deinocheirus, and a few others from elsewhere, Spain's Morelladon had a series of paddle-like spines running along its back, each of which was four times taller than the body of vertebra to which it was attached. The spines themselves were rather wide, and their bases thickened and robust, making them overkill as anchor points for a flimsy sail of skin to regulate body temperature. Instead, they were probably supporting a fat-hoarding hump as a means of energy when food was in short supply, in the same vein as those found on modern camels. But it may have doubled as an accessory to intimidate rivals, impress the opposite sex or help members of the same species identify each other at a glance in their crowded Early Cretaceous habitat.